Rick Junkin

Thanks ShuRugal! You reminded me that I had closed the overhead vents toward the end of the first sortie with my Dad as it was getting a bit cool. Ironically I don't like to use the cabin heat unless absolutely necessary out of concern for CO infiltration, and I have always flown with the overhead vents open. I didn't open the vents again until after the CO alert, so maybe... One more thing to check during ground ops and on the functional check flight. I'm planning to retrieve the airplane on the 26th, I'll let y'all know how it goes. I may have a major cockpit sealing activity in my near future. Cheers, Rick

I told Glennie that it would be a good idea for us to upgrade to that CO detector, for safety reasons of course. She told me to keep my Sensorcon. Cheers, Rick

Sorry Brad, missed this question. I didn’t initially open the vents. I was trying to see if I could stop the rise and isolate where the problem was, but once it hit 98PPM the troubleshooting was over and the vents came open. With the numbers still climbing, I pulled the throttle and leaned the mixture (I was at 34/2400 and full rich for the climb) to try to reduce the CO production. The numbers started coming down when I did that, and I didn’t look at the detector again. Cheers, Rick

I had mine clipped to my shoulder belt in the middle of my chest. I both felt the vibration and heard the tones when it alerted, even through my Bose A20s and the jacket I was wearing. Velcroed to the panel is probably optimum if you have the space as the flashing red lights should get your attention quickly. Cheers, Rick

Great question. i expect that I get a call from the FAA after the holidays to ensure that I didn’t take an unairworthy airplane airborne before appropriate maintenance actions were effected. This is a supposition on my part, based on the experience I had earlier this year after an emergency involving a gear issue. The gentleman from the FSDO was a pleasure to work with, but he did ask for documentation of all my quals and currencies, as well as some of the maintenance records on the airplane. He also asked for a written statement from both me and my mechanic after repairs were made. Not an unpleasant experience, but a little time consuming. Dont let that discourage you from declaring an emergency if you need (or could use) assistance or need traffic priority. In this recent case, I declared as soon as I realized I had an unresolvable problem and needed to get on the ground ASAP. As it turned out, Memphis Center was able to vector me direct to the field as I descended through a solid overcast from 6,000’ down to 1,500’, when I’m pretty sure their MVA in that sector is around 2,500’. They couldn’t have worked that without an emergency declaration. My ATC wingman also queried me on my progress, which helped keep me focused on flying the airplane and would have been a real help if something else would have happened. So to answer your question, yes, I expect to participate in some follow-up from the FAA. Would I do it the same way again? ABSOLUTELY. i also filed an ASRS report (NASA Form for us old guys) just in case I did something that might raise more questions from the FAA. I didn’t, but it is no-cost insurance in the event that there is potential violation or certificate action. Cheers, Rick

I'm looking for the same thing for my TLS, serial #27-0019. Any chance that's in your inventory? Happy to compensate in a manner of your choosing. Cheers, Rick

Short answer - I don’t know. I bought the airplane in May of 2016 and haven’t done any of that kind of work. Thanks for the point out, I’ll check with the previous owner. Cheers, Rick

UPDATE: A very thorough firewall forward inspection by the folks at Tennessee Aircraft Services at KMKL identified a loose v- band clamp (not the AD clamps, the smaller one forward of the turbo) as the only place that could be leaking exhaust. It’s fixed, but the weather today was 400 overcast, not good enough for a functional check flight. So I rode home in a Caravan and will return to do the FCF and subsequent flight home when the weather improves. More to follow. Cheers, Rick

Dan, aren’t you the one who alerted the community to the need for active monitoring? In MY world, sir, YOU drink on ME! Cheers, Rick

Thanks Jim, we’ll have to talk over one of those drinks some day. Yeah, without being too melodramatic, no telling where this might have gone until I get the cowl off in the morning and have a look. 200PPM over the 1.5 I had in front of me would have resulted in a headache, but if it continued to increase it could have been more painful. Fortunately I didn’t get to find out. Cheers, Rick

Thanks. Nope, this was a classic CO poisoning event waiting to happen. No odors in the cockpit. Yes, the v-clamps are at the top of my list, followed by the torques on the exhaust manifold. I had a leak on #5 that was repaired at annual, with new gaskets all around. Something may have loosened up. I'll let y'all know what we find. Cheers, Rick

My Sensorcon Inspector alerted on climb out on my second sortie today on my way home from dropping off my father. I attach it to my shoulder belt, and it usually reads between 0 and 15 during taxi and takeoff/climb. The Inspector is programmed to alert at 30PPM. It was reading 38PPM when I looked at it. As I continued the climb in IMC, the reading climbed through 50+PPM while I tried to figure out where it could be coming from. Over the next minute as I looked at all of my vents, heat, etc the reading had risen to 98PPM and was still climbing. About that time I was on top in VMC. I declared an emergency and made a turn back to my departure field, keeping the power up to stay on top. The next time I looked at the sensor it was over 200PPM and climbing. The sensor indications started to drop after I pulled the throttle to 15"MAP. I slowed down, and started back down through the clag with a clearance from Memphis Center down to what I thought was below their MVA for the sector I was in. But it got me below the 1,100' ceiling without having to shoot an instrument approach, and I was able to set up for a visual approach and uneventful landing. I called the number on my Sporty's Breakdown Assistance card and have arrangements made to get a professional once-over first thing in the morning to try to find out what happened. I don't know how high the CO concentration would have gone had I kept the power in, but without the Sensorcon I possibly wouldn't have known I had a problem until it was getting too late. I'm having a drink with my father tonight, instead of my wife, to celebrate the fact that I will live another day. If you don't have one of these things, get one. Cheers, Rick

Understand February 23-25 vice March 23-25?

Precisely! That's one of the reasons I was looking for a way to hang the headsets up out of the way and away from direct sunlight. That, and the fact that I am anything but graceful when mounting my M20 steed, and anything within reach of my legs upon entry is in 100% danger of being knocked, pulled, tangled, and ultimately made inoperative. Suffice it to say that I've proved this to myself in more or less expensive ways. I'm happy with the lash-up I have in my airplane now with my RAM mount and flag pole rope cleat contraption. It doesn't look TOO bad, and is very functional for my purposes, getting the headsets and cords up out of the way and protected from the sun behind the sun visors. Plus it occupied me for a few hours while I worked through the trial and error installation and kept me out of my wife's hair, which makes her happy. And when mama's happy? Come on, you know the rest... Cheers, Rick

Wow, ok...

Thoughts on accommodations for the clinic weekend? My time share is booked solid already... Cheers, Rick

Good point. I checked for that, they hang far enough away that there is no deflection on the compass. Cheers, Rick EDIT: I stand corrected - there is no deflection when BOTH headsets are hanging up, but there is 20 degrees of deflection when only ONE is hanging up. So yeah, that could be a problem if I left one hanging there for an extended time. I changed how I have the cleat mounted, now have it attached to the top of a RAM ball mount for my iPhone cradle. here are the new pics.

I came up with another idea for a headset hanger after searching for ideas led me to this thread. I bought a 6" flag pole rope cleat and attached it to the top of the tube in the center of the windscreen. Amazingly simple, and works great! Sorry about the picture orientation, I"m not smart enough to know how to rotate them on here. Cheers, Rick

With all of the posts I've been reading over the last couple of years about battery life, I took action to maintain my batteries as best I could. The batteries in my airplane were installed in 2014 and are still going strong, verified again at this year's annual, and I credit that to consistent use of my BatteryMinder. But it was a pain to hook up, and I wanted something easier. Here's the installation I implemented for my BatteryMinder connections, inspired by Don Kaye's installation in his O2 filler port door. I went in through the TKS filler port door, which provided a very convenient place to cleanly mount a BatteryMinder Airframe Interface Kit connector for each battery. With the "Y" connector for the BatteryMinder, I can connect to both batteries simultaneously for a continuous maintenance charge and desulfation. Or I can charge each battery individually to get them both evenly topped off before putting them on a simultaneous maintenance charge, as recommended in the BatteryMinder documentation. Openning up the TKS filler port door and plugging in is a heck of a lot more convenient than what I've been doing, which required removing the left battery access panel, reaching in to pull back the boots on all four battery terminals and connecting the battery terminal clips to the terminals. Then removing the clips, putting the boots back in place, and replacing the access panel. Plus it saves me a fair amount of time, and has the look of an OEM installation (thanks to Tom, the world's greatest A&P I/A who transformed my idea into the finished product). My hope is that this inspires ideas for others thinking about doing something similar. What have other folks done? Cheers, Rick

USAF callsign, given to me 30 years ago. Some of my best friends don't know me by any other name. Even my WIFE calls me Junkman. Its a cultural thing. Cheers, Rick

A word of caution about the Tempest torque wrench - mine was a little "strong" out of the box, you may want to check it against a known good torque wrench before using it. I'd guess most are probably ok out of the box, but mine wasn't. Cheers, Rick

Here's a really bad picture from a while ago when I was doing some other work, but it clearly shows the same connector on the right side of the diode as you suspected. My airplane is #19. Cheers, Rick

Thanks for the info Don. My bad on the airspeed request, I meant to ask KIAS to keep apples to apples, but I can do the math. Interesting detail on the JPI vs EI probes though. I recently installed new JPI CHT probes to feed my 700 (replaced washer TCs and Tanis heating elements with JPI bayonets) and am seeing 350's-360's at about 72%. That seems to check against your EI temps as compared to your former JPI temps. My LOP temps are tracking your ROP temps, perhaps slightly lower, for the same power settings. Thanks again for your data. Cheers, Rick

Don, my apologies as I'm sure you've posted this elsewhere, but what are your nominal cruise parameters? 29/2400 at what fuel flow, TIT, and average CHT? KTAS? Thanks! Cheers, Rick